USA > Ohio > Adams County > A history of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, including character sketches of the prominent persons identified with the first century of the country's growth > Part 11
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The student of our territorial history will note the fact that during the political conflict between Governor St. Clair, the Federalist, and Na- thaniel Massie and his Democratic associates, over matters pertaining to the government of the Territory, the line "due north from the mouth of Elk River or Eagle Creek," so often mentioned by St. Clair in his gub- ernatorial proclamations and in the acts of the Territorial and early State Legislatures, was proposed at one time by the Governor as the proper western boundary for the first of the five States to be erected out of the Northwest Territory as provided for in the Ordinance of '87. An act of the Territorial Legislature, passed January 23, 1802, provides that this line should be run and completed before May 1, 1802. Another curious historical fact in connection with the civil organization of Adams County, is that the territory within its limits at one time was under the jurisdiction Botetourt County, Virginia, and that the county seat was then the old town of Fincastle in that county.
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CHAPTER IX.
THE EARLY COURTS
The First Court of Quarter Sessions-The First Grand Jury-Some Inter- esting Proceedings of the Court-Fees of Justices and Constables- Removal of the County Seat to Adamsville Ferry Rates- County Seat Agitation-First Indictment-First Trial Jury -The County Seat Removed to Washington-Some Quaint Indictments and Curious Cases- The Whipping Post.
The first court held in Adams County convened at Manchester, Tuesday, September 12, 1797. It was the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. This court was created under a law adopted from the statutes of Pennsylvania, by Governor St. Clair and Territorial Judges Parsons and Varnum, at Marietta, August 23, 1788. The law provided that the Justices of the Peace commissioned in each county by the Governor, should constitute this court, and that any three of them should be a quorum. Some one of the acting judges was designated Presiding Justice. The court held four general sessions in each year, and had jurisdiction of misdemeanors and crimes where the punishment did not extend to life or limb, or imprisonment for a longer period than one year. One or more of the Judges could hear and determine petit crimes and misdemeanors where the penalty was fine only and not ex- ceeding three dollars; and in higher offenses could bind over to the "Court in Course." When an offense was committed in presence of a Judge he could fine without examination of witnesses. Corporal pun- ishment, even for minor offenses, was the usual penalty. One of the early statutes of the Territory was "An act directing the building and estab- lishment of a court house,county jail, pillory, whipping post and stocks in every county." Each jail was to have two apartments, one for debtors and one for persons charged with crime.
It is not known in what building this first court in the county was held. It may have been held in the public house then kept by an Irishman named John McGate, or "Megitt," as the Clerk of the Court spelled the name; or in the old blockhouse at the stockade which was then standing ; or possibly at the house of Nathaniel Massie, the most prominent char- acter in the town and county at that day, and who was greatly interested in locating the county seat at Manchester. However, after the Clerk, George Gordon, had read the commissions of the Judges present, the Sheriff, David Edie, opened court with the usual proclamation, "O, yes! a court is now opened for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich," etc., etc .; and the first Court of General Quarter Ses- 6a
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
. sions of the Peace, for Adams County, was convened and ready to hear pleas and to determine causes, and to transact such matters of business as might properly come before the court.
The Court, as then constituted, consisted of the following Judges: Nathaniel Massie, John Beasley, John .Belli, Thomas Worthington, Hugh Cochran, Benjamin Goodin, Thomas Scott, Thomas Kirker, and Joseph Kerr.
Job Denning was Court Cryer, and Andrew Ellison had been ap- pointed Coroner, an office next in rank to Sheriff, the Coroner perform- ing the duties of the Sheriff on certain occasions, and succeeding to the office at the death of the Sheriff while in office.
NATHANIEL MASSIE, the Presiding Justice of this first court, was the founder of the town of Manchester in 1790. His influence with Governor St. Clair, with whom he was, at this time, in great esteem, had been such as to secure the erection of Adams County. as a civil division of the Terri- tory. He founded the town of Chillicothe in 1796, and four years later succeeded in having it made the capital of "The Territory Northwest of the river. Ohio." In 1807 he was a candidate for Governor of Ohio but was defeated by a small majority by. Return J. Meigs. Massie contested the election, and was declared by the Legislature the duly elected Gov- ernor. He refused, from his fine sense of honor, to accept the office, and. Thomas Kirker, President of the Senate, became the Governor. He was a Presidential Elector in 1804 and cast his ballot for Thomas Jefferson.
THOMAS KIRKER, of Irish ancestry, was among the early settlers in Adams County. He was a man of fine presence, but of limited talents. He was popular with his associates, and a firm friend of Nathaniel Massie. He was one of that coterie of Democrats that brought about the political overthrow of Governor St. Clair in the Territory. He was fond of public office, even filling in interims when a member of the Legislature, as road reviewer, foreman of a grand jury, or as a special court commissioner. He was commissioned by St. Clair, a Justice of the Peace at the organ- ization of Adams County, through the influence of his friend, Nathaniel Massie, and as such became a Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions. He was a member, along with Darlinton and Donalson, of the first Con -. stitutional Convention. He served many years in the Legislature, both Senate and House, and became the second Governor of Ohio in 1807, acting as such for the term, upon the refusal of Nathaniel Massie to accept the office after his successful contest for it against Return J. Meigs. Governor Kirker, while not a brilliant man, played strong parts in the early history of the county and State. His fidelity to friends and duty seems to have been his chief characteristic. He ap- pears always to have been present to perform his official duties. The early biographers and historians of Ohio were Federalists, and the "Virginia Democrats," as the adherents of Jefferson were termed, were not accredited with the notice they deserved, and hence it is, that a builder of a State, like Nathaniel Massie, is set down as a "surveyor and. land jobber." And so it is that the second Governor of Ohio, has not a line of notice in such standard works as "Howe's Historical Collections," while an otherwise obscure lawyer somewhere in "Cheesedom" has
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GOV. THOMAS KIRKER SECOND GOVERNOR OF OHIO 1807-8.
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THE EARLY COURTS :
pages devoted to the delightful task of making him one of "the im- mortals."
*THOMAS WORTHINGTON was a Virginian by birth and came
to Chillicothe the year of its founding, 1796. He was a brother-in-law of Edward Tiffin, the first Governor of Ohio. He was an ardent Democrat of the Jefferson school, and as such became an intimate friend of Nathaniel Massie, who intro- duced him to Governor St. Clair, and secured for him official recogni- tion. When the rupture came between Massie and the Democrats on the one side, and St. Clair and his Federalist adherents on the other, over the question of statehood of Ohio, Worthington was selected as the representative of the Democrats to look after their cause at the seat of the Federal Government, first at Philadelphia and afterwards at Wash- ington, and he succeeded so well as to bring about the founding of the new State of Ohio, and the crushing defeat of St. Clair and his adher- ents. He became a member of the first Constitutional Convention, and upon the admission of the State was made a United States Senator. He was twice elected Governor, serving front 1814 to 1818. All his measures were noted for their practical worth and honesty. No man did more than he during his lifetime to develop the State and to advance the general welfare of its people. He was one of the most distinguished pioneers of Ohio.
JOHN BELLI was a native of Holland and came to the United States after the close of the Revolution. He stood in favor with President Wash- ington and in 1793 was made Deputy Quartermaster General in Wayne's Legion in the campaign against the Indians in the Northwest Territory. He came to Adams County in 1796 and purchased a large tract of land at the mouth of Turkey Creek, about six miles below Portsmouth, where he resided when appointed a Justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions for Adams County in 1797. He was a man of much learning and very. influential in Masonic circles. He was the first and only Recorder of Adams County under the Territorial Government. He took an active part in the early history of the county, being a man of broad intelli- gence and of great influence.
THOMAS ScorT came from Kentucky to Chillicothe the latter part of the year 1796. He was Secretary of the first Constitutional Convention, and Clerk of the Senate from 1803 to 1809. Was a Judge of the Supreme Court from 1809 to 1815. He was painstaking in the preparation of his decisions and ranks well as a jurist. During his active public life he held his charge as a local Methodist preacher. He was something of a par- tisan in politics and was associated with the Democratic party until about 1840 when he became a Whig.
JOSEPH KERR was a pioneer of Adams County. He is prominently identified with the early political history of the county, under his removal
* In the Records of the Court of Quarter Sessions, appears the name Thomas Witherington. or Wetherington. But after careful research and investigation the writer is convinced that it is only a mis spelling of the name of Thomas Worthington, the friend and associate of Nathaniel Massie. The clerk of that court spelled proper names as an Irishman or "raw" Englishman would pronounce them ; thus, "Kerker." "Ledum," "Oyler," "Baglio," and "Duncan MoCarter."- for Kirker, Leedom, Eyler. Beasley, and Duncan McArthur. Massie sat at only three sessions of this court, the first. and the June and September sessions of 1796. Worthington was present. at the first two of these. Then Ross County was organized from the northern portion of Adams, August 20, 1808, and his name does not appear again in the record.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
to Ross County about the year 1800. He served in the State Senate from 1804 to 1807, and was the only member of "The High Court of Impeach- ment" in the trial of Judge William W. Irwin, of Fairfield County, charged with "high misdemeanor and neglect of duties," who from first to last voted in the negative. He was Speaker pro tem of the session of 1804-5. He afterwards served one term in the House of Representatives from Ross County.
JOHN BEASLEY, born in Virginia, came to the vicinity of Limestone, Kentucky, in 1788. He was a surveyor under Massie, and a scout and Indian fighter of great celebrity in the pioneer days about Limestone and the Three Islands. He was a man of much natural talent, and was Pre- siding Justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions for many terms of that court. He was chosen the first State Senator from Adams County under the old Constitution, but his seat was successfully contested by Joseph Darlinton. This is perhaps explained by the statement that Beasley was a Federalist in politics. He was a brother of Benjamin Beasley and Nathaniel Beasley, prominent characters in the early history of Adams County. John Beasley's remains lie buried in an unmarked *grave near the public school building in Manchester.
The First Grand Jury.
The following named persons formed the first grand jury: James January, foreman ; Thomas Massie, John Barritt, John Ellison, Duncan McKinzie, Jesse Eastburn, Elisha Waldon, John Lodwick, Stephen Baylis, Robert Ellison, William McIntyre, Nathaniel Washburn, Zephaniah Wade, James Naylor, Jacob Piatt.
After "being sworn and charged the court adjourned to four o'clock this afternoon."
"The court met agreeable to adjournment," and the first matter be- fore the court was a petition for a recommendation to the Governor to grant Samuel Stoops a tavern license, which was granted. Following the granting of the petition of Stoops, is this quaint and interesting entry : "William McMillen and Jacob Burnett, Esquires, were admitted and qualified as counsellors and attorneys." William McMillan became a prominent member of the bar in Ohio, was the Territorial Delegate to Congress, following William Henry Harrison, afterwards President of the United States, and was serving as a member from Hamilton County of the first Territorial Legislature at the time when he was made a Ter- ritorial Delegate to Congress.
Jacob Burnett, better known as Judge Burnett, was at this time about twenty-seven years of age, and had just graduated from Princeton and came to the Territory to practice law. He rapidly rose in his pro- fession and was Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio from 1821 to 1828 when he resigned to accept the position of United States Senator. He was a Federalist and in after years, a Whig in politics. He was an able lawyer, but not "the author of the first Constitution of Ohio," as his
* The true patriot cannot stay the blush of shame that will flush his cheeks at mention of the fact as alleged that the burial place of Judge Beasley is today pointed out to the visitor to thì historio " Three Jalands " as being near the superstructure over the vaults on the public schooe grounds. If not the public spirited citizens of Manchester, then the "Pioneer Society " of Adama County should remove the ashes of the old pioneer to a public cemetery and erect s suitable monument to his memory.
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THE EARLY COURTS.
admiring biographers have declared. He was brought into early prom- inence more through the influence of Governor St. Clair than from natural or acquired abilities.
McMillan and Burnett were residents of Cincinnati but with other members of the bar in those days attended the courts in the other counties of the Territory. There were no public roads over which wheeled vehicles could be moved for public conveyance, and all travel was afoot or on horseback, except along some of the larger water courses where canoes or pirogues were used. At this time Zane's Trace had just been blazed through the forest from Wheeling to Limestone via Chillicothe, and Bouquet's, Dunmore's, Harmar's, Logan's, Tod's, and Wayne's war roads had been cut through the wilderness. These with some old Indian trails were the pathways throughout the Territory to guide the pros- pector and immigrant from the Ohio to the scattered settlements in the interior. The judges and attorneys in those days made the circuit of the courts on horseback accompanied with servants and pack horses. On these journeys, they were sometimes eight or ten days in the wilder- ness, and as there were no bridges over the streams, "they were compel- led, at all seasons of the year, to swim every water course in their way which was too deep to be forded."
Some Interesting Proceedings of the Court.
The first matter taken up by the court at the afternoon session of this day, was the division of the county into townships, and the appoint- ment of Supervisors and Constables in the subdivisions of the county, all of which matter and proceedings will be found under another chapter in this volume.
After forming and organizing the townships of the county, the court next took up the matter of petitions for public roads, (which matter is also fully noticed under another chapter herein) and then it was that the recently admitted attorneys, McMillan and Burnett got their first retainers, and began a proceeding before the court that occupied its at- tention for many terms. Joseph Darlinton, who had recently come to the vicinity of Manchester, had established a ferry across the Ohio, near the mouth of Cabin Creek, in opposition to James Lawson who operated a ferry at that point. Lawson had cut out a road from his ferry to Man- chester, and in order to get benefit of the drift of travel, Darlinton con- ceived the idea of changing the road so as to bring it past his landing. So he employed Burnett to draft a proper petition and get favorable action on it by the court then in session, which was done accordingly, as the following record discloses : "On the petition of Joseph Darlinton the court grants the prayer of the petition on the following terms; that the said petitioner do not increase the distance of the present road by his alteration in its direction more than forty or fifty poles and that the said petitioner open and keep in repair the part of the road that shall be turned from its present direction for the term of three years." But then as now courts were subject to change of opinion, and McMillan on behalf of his client. Lawson, sought to have the order of the court modified and was successful notwithstanding the protests of attorney Burnett.
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
The next morning McMillan, who had in the meantime taken a few nips of "Old Monongahela" with the court and entertained its members with pleasing anecdotes to the disgust of the sallow and sedate Burnett, succeeded in getting the following entered as a matter of record : "Motion by William McMillan in behalf of James Lawson to supersede the order made yesterday in behalf of Joseph Darlinton. Motion granted, and ordered that Hosea Moore, Andrew Ellison, and William Leedom be appointed to examine and report to next court the most eligible plan for the road to run from the place where it first strikes Joseph Darlinton's land to Lawson's Ferry, having reference to the injury it may do to private property, at the cost of Joseph Darlinton."
This matter was contested before each session of the court until the September term, 1798, when Darlinton having succeeded in getting a majority of the resident freeholders in the vicinity of the proposed im- provement to subscribe his petition, viz: R. Roundsavell, I. Donalson, T. Massie, J. Collins, J. Megitt (McGate), L. Hawkins, J. Barritt, J. Davidson, John Ellison, J. Beam, Jun., D. Edie, and John Thomas, the court ordered the following entry to be made: "The report of Hosea Moore, Andrew Ellison, and William Leedom on the order for a road from where the road strikes Darlinton's land to Lawson's Ferry be re- ceived, and David Edie, Israel Donalson and John Ellison to survey and make a return agreeable to report."
The history of this case discloses some facts for the consideration of the present generation. It shows that our pioneer fathers had spirited contests for supremacy in affairs of trade, even invoking the aid of the courts in such matters. We learn from it that wily lawyers dallied with the courts and that "even-handed justice," in those "good old times,". was very deliberate in adjusting the scale. And it discloses the traits of character that made Burnett the renowned jurist that he later be- came-fidelity to clients even in trifling causes, persevering energy, studious and temperate habits. Judge Burnett notes the fact that in 1796 there were nine practicing attorneys in Cincinnati, all but two of whom became confirmed drunkards, and descended to premature graves. At this session of the court the following order was made with reference to fees of justices and constables :
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Fees of Justices and Constables.
"The court order that the following fees be the standing fees for justices of the county of Adams :
Summons or capias 18 cents.
Entering action
7 cents.
Recognizance 25
cents.
Administering oath 12} cents.
On issue joined 25 cents:
Judgment 25 cents.
Taxing costs . 12} cents.
Making up record 124 cents.
Subpoena for witness
122 cents.
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THE EARLY COURTS
Execution
25 cents.
Acknowledging deed 25 cents.
Issuing attachment
50 cents.
Bail
25 cents.
"The court order the following fees to the Constable for the county of Adams :
Serving capias or summons 30 cents.
Mileage 6 cents per mile
6 cents.
Taking bail
15 cents.
Attendance, or return of precepts
20 cents.
The time of the court was largely consumed at this sitting in con- sidering petitions for roads, and in appointing reviewers and surveyors for those granted. After appointing supervisors for portions of Zane's road, the court adjourned on the evening of the second day of the session until "Courts in Course."
Removal of the County Seat to Adamsville.
In the meantime the county seat contest was going merrily on be- tween Massie and the Manchester contingent on the one hand, and the settlers up the river in the region from the mouth of Brush Creek to the Scioto valley on the other. Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Territory assigned to hold the next term of court, a majority of Justices in favor of the "up river" contestants, and the village of Adamsville, an "out of the way" place where the town of Rome now stands, was designated as the seat of justice for the county. There was a small log court house, a log jail, and a few log dwellings at the point, but the accommodations for the court, lawyers, and attendants, were so poor that the place was called in derision by the opponents of the site, "Scantville." The courts were held here until the December session 1798. At the close of the .. September session of that year the record states that "the Court adjourn until Court in Course to meet at Washington agreeable to Ordinance." The story of the removal to Adamsville as told by the record is: "The Court of General Quarter Sessions met at Adamsville in the county of . Adams agreeable to charter, on the second Tuesday (12th of De- cember, 1797. Present: John Beasley, John Belli and Benjamin Goodin, Esqaires."
It will be noticed that Nathaniel Massie, Thomas Worthington, Thomas Scott, Joseph Kerr, Hugh Cochran, and Thomas Kirker were . not members of this court. It has been stated that these members of the court met at Manchester to transact business this term, but the record does not disclose anything with reference to any such transaction.
Francis Taylor was admitted to practice as an attorney before this court, after taking "the oath prescribed by the statutes of this Territory." Jacob Burnett was present, and on his motion, "the reviewers in the .
case of Darlinton against Lawson have until next term to make their report."'
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HISTORY OF ADAMS COUNTY
Ferry Rates.
On motion of Benjamin Urmston, the Court ordered the following rate for ferries across the Scioto River :
Man and horse 12} cents.
Single
64 cents.
Wagon and team
75 cents.
Horned cattle each 61 cents.
The following rates were also established for , ferriage across the Ohio River:
Man and horse 182 cents.
Single . Wagon and team $1.15
94 cents.
Horned cattle
94 cents.
At the March session, 1798, the court consisted of John Belli, John Beasley, Benjamin Goodin, Thomas Kirker, Nathaniel Ellis, Hugh Cochran and John Russell. After the convening of the court the fol- lowing grand jurors appeared and were sworn and charged:
John Thomas, William Lucas, Peter Shoemaker, John McGate, Stephen Beach, Alexander Warren, William Russell, Noble Grimes, James Collins, Furgus Moore, Thomas Dick, John Bryan, Robert Elli- son, Joseph Lovejoy, Isaac Edgington, James Lawson, James Morrison and Michael Thomas.
On the second day of this session of the court, March 14, 1798, James Scott, Henry Massie and Joseph Darlinton were appointed Com- missioners for the county. The Township Assessors, Overseers of the Foor, Supervisors of Roads, Viewers of Inclosures, and Constables were also appointed at this session of the court.
The next session of the court commenced at Adamsville, June 12, 1798, with the following justices present :
Nathaniel Massie, John Belli, Thomas Worthington, Benjamin Goodin, Joseph Kerr, Nathaniel Ellis, John Russell and Thomas Kirker.
The opponents of St. Clair sat at this court, and were present for the purpose of securing aid in their contest to secure the location of the county seat at Manchester.
The grand jurors impaneled and sworn were: Thomas Massie, James Lawson, George Edgington. Benjamin Massie. John Chennowith, John McDonald, John Ellison. John Hessler, William Stockham, Nathaniel Collins, Duncan Mckenzie, Moses Baird, James Morrison, Nathaniel Washburn and Thomas Burkett.
Samuel Kincaid was appointed Court Constable.
County Seat Agitation.
On the second day of the session, immediately after opening of the court, the matter of location of the seat of justice in the county was brought before the court, and after some delav the following entry was made in the record : "Ordered that the court will receive by gift or other-
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